![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
erdaEvery year around this time the Yuletide madness starts, and every year I sit and watch in amazement, because I do not get it. It's not that I dislike Yuletide, or that I want it to go away or anything. I just do not understand it.
So my daughter is far away at school, which means we talk constantly on gtalk, and I mentioned in passing to her that lj is being taken over by Yuletide. My daughter has an lj and reads btvs and Jane Austen fanfiction, and once in a while dips into Supernatural stories, but she is not involved in the social part of fandom; I think mostly because she is in a lot of groups -feminist, QSA, and other leftist stuff- on campus, and just feels all socialed out at the end of the day.
me:I feel so left out
her: ???
explain plz
me: it started with the idea
that if you loved something like Stargate
you could go online and read stories about it.
But if you loved something unusual and obscure,
wouldn't it be nice if over the holidays you could get someone to write you a story about it?
her: ok
me: like a book you loved or something
her: right
me: so I guess people nominate books, movies, anything they want
her: ok
me: and they make a big list
Then you sign up and you pick out all the ones you
would be willing to write a story about
and then you request a story
or maybe stories, I'm not sure.
and everyone gets matched up
her: right
me: so that everyone writes and everyone gets
and then they publish the stories anonymously
her: ok
me: and everyone reads and recs and discusses
her: so what's your issue?
me: and then after the holiday they have a big reveal the authors thing
well that's how it
started
but now it seems like the point is to nominate
the most obscure ridiculous thing you can think of
her: hahaha
me: and then people try to make up a story about it
like XKCD
her: ?
me: http://xkcd.com/
it's a comic strip
her: oh, ok, yes, I've seen that before
haha
me: http://yuletidetreasure.org/get_nominated_fandoms.cgi
long pause...
her: I'm reading the original translation of the mabinogion right now
me: but I look through and most of them I don't even know what they are...
and those I do recognize I would have to go back and reread.
her: ooh Black Cauldron
me: hmmm. I don't know if you can request and write from the same fandom. I just don't get how it works exactly.
her:I would so happily write OR read a mabinogion/black cauldron fic.
me:Some of this is about the challenge of having to be extremely inventive and creative. Haha. That's probably why I don't get it.
her: eeee Connie Willis is on here. Doomsday Book!!
me: I DON"T GET IT!!
her: buffy's also on here
me:Nothing on here says "write me" to me.
her:HAHA PROP 8 THE MUSICAL FIC
me: ...
her: Oh! Dark is Rising!! Ahahaha tales of cthulu.
There are a lot of children's books on here.
me: maybe that is part of the problem. Things I liked when I was young, like black stallion is on here. When I was in my twenties or thirties I would have enjoyed revisiting that. But not anymore. I tried to go back and watch I Spy, which I liked back in my youth. But they were so obsessed with the Yellow Menace. It was embarrassing.
her: oh, wow!!
15th century rpf!
me: I can't find anything on here that I think I could write
her: could be a PLAGUE FIC!!
Um, you couldn't do niebelungenlied?
me: I feel so left out
yeah maybe
that's prob the only one I could do
but then I think your person can pick the character
I mean, they could pick Brunhilde. I have nothing to
say about Brunhilde.
there's nothing on here I'd want to request either
her: count of monte cristo?
could you write that?
angel's on here
yay! whole category for arthurian legend!
plz remind me when these are posted
so I can read them
HAHA BEOWULF FIC
beverly cleary's ramona?
omg these people should go to my school
cabinet of dr caligari fic?
hahahahhahahaha
me: o_0
I couldn't write any of those
her: tons of dickens on here
you like dickens
me: I would have to reread. and they are long. And some of us grown ups are kind of busy this time of year
and don't have time to reread a long book like Dickens.
her:cmon ramona would be so easy
hey glee is on here!
also the godfather!
the movie version
me: I DON"T GET IT!!
her:carol berg
I remember we really liked her!
ahahaha, Mom! you should write lolcats!
This is really cool!
me: well then you should fucking sign up like every other fucking person except me on lj
her: ooh stephen lawhead
he wrote a book about taliesin
me:fuck you!!
her:You don't know how to have fun, do you?
So my daughter is far away at school, which means we talk constantly on gtalk, and I mentioned in passing to her that lj is being taken over by Yuletide. My daughter has an lj and reads btvs and Jane Austen fanfiction, and once in a while dips into Supernatural stories, but she is not involved in the social part of fandom; I think mostly because she is in a lot of groups -feminist, QSA, and other leftist stuff- on campus, and just feels all socialed out at the end of the day.
me:I feel so left out
her: ???
explain plz
me: it started with the idea
that if you loved something like Stargate
you could go online and read stories about it.
But if you loved something unusual and obscure,
wouldn't it be nice if over the holidays you could get someone to write you a story about it?
her: ok
me: like a book you loved or something
her: right
me: so I guess people nominate books, movies, anything they want
her: ok
me: and they make a big list
Then you sign up and you pick out all the ones you
would be willing to write a story about
and then you request a story
or maybe stories, I'm not sure.
and everyone gets matched up
her: right
me: so that everyone writes and everyone gets
and then they publish the stories anonymously
her: ok
me: and everyone reads and recs and discusses
her: so what's your issue?
me: and then after the holiday they have a big reveal the authors thing
well that's how it
started
but now it seems like the point is to nominate
the most obscure ridiculous thing you can think of
her: hahaha
me: and then people try to make up a story about it
like XKCD
her: ?
me: http://xkcd.com/
it's a comic strip
her: oh, ok, yes, I've seen that before
haha
me: http://yuletidetreasure.org/get_nominated_fandoms.cgi
long pause...
her: I'm reading the original translation of the mabinogion right now
me: but I look through and most of them I don't even know what they are...
and those I do recognize I would have to go back and reread.
her: ooh Black Cauldron
me: hmmm. I don't know if you can request and write from the same fandom. I just don't get how it works exactly.
her:I would so happily write OR read a mabinogion/black cauldron fic.
me:Some of this is about the challenge of having to be extremely inventive and creative. Haha. That's probably why I don't get it.
her: eeee Connie Willis is on here. Doomsday Book!!
me: I DON"T GET IT!!
her: buffy's also on here
me:Nothing on here says "write me" to me.
her:HAHA PROP 8 THE MUSICAL FIC
me: ...
her: Oh! Dark is Rising!! Ahahaha tales of cthulu.
There are a lot of children's books on here.
me: maybe that is part of the problem. Things I liked when I was young, like black stallion is on here. When I was in my twenties or thirties I would have enjoyed revisiting that. But not anymore. I tried to go back and watch I Spy, which I liked back in my youth. But they were so obsessed with the Yellow Menace. It was embarrassing.
her: oh, wow!!
15th century rpf!
me: I can't find anything on here that I think I could write
her: could be a PLAGUE FIC!!
Um, you couldn't do niebelungenlied?
me: I feel so left out
yeah maybe
that's prob the only one I could do
but then I think your person can pick the character
I mean, they could pick Brunhilde. I have nothing to
say about Brunhilde.
there's nothing on here I'd want to request either
her: count of monte cristo?
could you write that?
angel's on here
yay! whole category for arthurian legend!
plz remind me when these are posted
so I can read them
HAHA BEOWULF FIC
beverly cleary's ramona?
omg these people should go to my school
cabinet of dr caligari fic?
hahahahhahahaha
me: o_0
I couldn't write any of those
her: tons of dickens on here
you like dickens
me: I would have to reread. and they are long. And some of us grown ups are kind of busy this time of year
and don't have time to reread a long book like Dickens.
her:cmon ramona would be so easy
hey glee is on here!
also the godfather!
the movie version
me: I DON"T GET IT!!
her:carol berg
I remember we really liked her!
ahahaha, Mom! you should write lolcats!
This is really cool!
me: well then you should fucking sign up like every other fucking person except me on lj
her: ooh stephen lawhead
he wrote a book about taliesin
me:fuck you!!
her:You don't know how to have fun, do you?
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-16 11:39 pm (UTC)A Gmail theme is a nominated fandom.
I don't get it.
Two years ago, I looked over the Yuletide database--got really annoyed at the total lack of fic summaries of any utility--read all the Vorkosigan fic that wasn't Miles/Gregor. Read a few others. Made a toast to Sturgeon's law and wandered off.
There were some recced fics last year that were okay, but I don't know even a tenth of the source fandoms. I think the one really good Shelter fic is a yuletide fic.
Still don't get it. But then I won't do fic exchanges. Or really, group activities at all.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-17 12:22 am (UTC)I don't have enough haha's for that.
Or really, group activities at all.
Not my strong point either, obviously.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-16 11:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-17 12:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-17 12:00 am (UTC)I rarely end up writing stuff, but for example, I wrote Penny Arcade fic (another webcomic that's been on Yuletide for a couple years) several years before it showed up as a Yuletide fandom. Just because I had an idea and have enough friends who read Penny Arcade that I thought I would have an audience. But with really out-there stuff, I mostly think, eh, why bother? No audience.
Except Yuletide is your one time of year when you can see that someone else does actually want to read/write this source, too!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-17 12:27 am (UTC)Hee, no doubt you are right.
Except Yuletide is your one time of year when you can see that someone else does actually want to read/write this source, too!
Yes, that part is cool!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-17 12:38 am (UTC)But at the same time, there are still a million books and TV series and movies and more "normal" stuff, so it's not like the really out-there stuff has taken over. (And of course when it comes time to write, those out-there fandoms will get one story each, if that, whereas the larger, more mainstream sources will get more.)
If I were able to participate, I would nominate not just a webcomic, but webcomic RPF. Because the author of A Softer World and the author of Dinosaur Comics are best friends, which already triggers my vague "ooh, I would read/write fic about them" impulses, but on top of that, there was a Softer World comic earlier this year there was a comic talking about the two of them (that's them in the photos) kissing in a tree.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-17 12:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-17 01:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-17 01:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-17 06:58 am (UTC)Eh, but there's still not all of my tiny fandoms there, and to nominate you have to willing to reciprocate—I suck at writing.
You and your daughter are very cool, though. I wish I could talk fic with my mum!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-17 06:58 pm (UTC)Daughters are so much fun!